Hostage Situation
by Serena Thorn
Summary: After the events of the last week, Sylar's out for revenge on those who have betrayed him. Only once he's done with them another is going along for the ride. Oneshot


Disclaimer: Heroes is not owned by me, but by Tim Kring. I'm simply borrowing these characters for non-profit entertainment.  
Spoilers: Through 3x13  
A/N: Slightly AU, sadly. For purposes of this fic Elle was killed by HRG at the end of 3x10. And as always Sylar and Claire aren't related in my universe.

* * *

"You used me," Sylar sighed as he looked to the woman whom he had recently been led to believe was his mother. Nothing but a manipulative stranger now, he didn't know what he felt. Betrayal, loss, devastation, loneliness. He couldn't put his finger on just one emotion.

"You could be something wonderful, Gabriel, this was just the added push that you need," she replied, trying to make him understand why she had lied to him.

"By being made to believe that I had a mother? That I had a family? Only so you could take it away again?" His words were calm, though his mind was far from easy.

As it was Elle was dead now. The only friend he felt he really had. After all his attempts at proving himself to Claire had failed. She was why he had enjoyed his turn at being responsible, honest, caring and compassionate.

"A boy scout," Elle had called him. It'd angered him. Peter was the boy scout, not him. Peter was the hero. He was why he claimed to hate heroes. But then what was Claire? Any why couldn't he hate her? Because he knew her in a way he had known no other? Because he could understand her?

It didn't matter now, he thought. After what had happened at Steven Kanfield's former home, the fact he would have helped Elle kill her and her father, he knew Claire was right not to trust him. He was a monster. And he hated himself for it.

"You can't hate someone who's dead," someone had once told him. If that was true then why did he suddenly hate Elle? Because she had died and left him alone? Because she had turned him into this monster? Because even she had betrayed him? Or because just when he thought he had found redemption she had turned him back into a killer and turning Claire against him once again when she was the one person he had most wanted to see the changes in him and the progress he had made?

"You couldn't possibly think I'd let you get away with this," he growled as he telekinetically bound her to her chair in her office.

"Gabriel- !"

"You betrayed me just like everyone else. Why should I make this easy for you?"

Only what Sylar didn't know was that already Angela's team knew he was in the building again. And after what had happened between him and Noah, they knew he would be out for revenge. Just as Noah had been.

Why couldn't the eclipse have lasted just a little longer? Noah still kicked himself for not ridding the world of his greatest nemesis when he had the chance. If it had just been a little longer, if he hadn't been distracted, if he hadn't been so obsessed with owning his kill and just killed the bastard the second he had him on his knees he wouldn't be running with his daughter and Meredith to Angela's office in the hope of rescuing her.

"Let me go in first," Meredith stated when they reached the door, hearing Angela still trying to plead her case inside.

"No, it's me he wants," Claire stated. She had already nearly caused her mother's death once recently. She wasn't ready for a repeat performance. She could heal again and her father had continued to train her. She wasn't afraid of Sylar. Not anymore.

Before either could stop her, she was through the door and looking into the dark eyes of her would-be killer.

"So glad you could join us, Claire," he smiled as though he had not only been expecting her, but had in fact invited her.

"Let her go," she ordered as she looked to her grandmother. The woman was showing some of her fear. Already Claire knew how dangerous this could be but she knew she couldn't care. This was between her and Sylar. Or so she thought.

"Now why would I do that?"

"This is between you and me. You're here for me. You want to finish the job Elle started. So come on, let's see what you've got."

He could feel her anger even from nearly across the room. Her heart was racing but he could see that it wasn't in fear. It was then he decided it might be more fun to play with his prey first. It was only fair, he decided, given that her father had tried to do that very thing to him.

She had her killer instinct and she was strong, but she still wasn't fast enough and he had her within his tight grasp within moments.

"Let her go this instant, Gabriel!" Angela demanded despite knowing she had no power then. She couldn't break free from invisible restraints, all she could do was look on in horror as Sylar flicked his wrist and sent the slender young woman against a far wall.

That demand was all Noah needed to hear before bursting into the room himself, Meredith at his side. His gun was raised though more for show and to hopefully stun Sylar long enough to break his hold on Claire as she struggled against the wall.

Meredith was quicker however and sent a blast of flames at Sylar's hands, freeing Claire and keeping him from turning his powers onto either for them.

He cried out in pain, but it didn't last long enough as Meredith soon found out. As she tried to rush to Claire's side, Sylar was angry and even as the skin at his hands continued to regenerate he managed to send her to the ground. But not before making sure she hit her head hard enough on a corner of Angela's desk to knock her out.

Noah quickly followed by shooting Sylar, three shots to the chest, but they were useless. Sylar even laughed as soon as he began to heal, almost too easily sending the gun flying through the air and into his left hand.

"You should know better than to play with fire, Noah," Sylar tsk-tsked as he looked to the older man.

"What do you want?" he demanded. He wanted to know how he could get the women out of this. All he could think was how he had brought this on. Once again angered at how he had handled himself the last time.

"Can't you tell?" he fired as he pointed the gun at a suddenly terrified Claire.

The bullets within wouldn't hurt him or Claire now, but that didn't mean that Noah or Angela or even Meredith would be safe. That was assuming Meredith was even still alive.

Claire didn't have time to check when Sylar released his hold on her. She fell hard to the floor with a grunt, but almost instantly she felt Sylar pulling her harshly to her feet and to his side again.

"Revenge," Noah stated. He could see it now. An eye for an eye. A bullet for a bullet.

"On all of you," he spat, glancing around the room, letting his anger take hold and using it to then trap his own would-be killer. "You for claiming you could give me what I'd always wanted," he stated to Angela. "You for what you tried to do to me," he added to Noah as he turned the man's own gun on him. "And as for you," he continued as he looked to Claire, "all I wanted was for you to see that I'd changed. That I could be more than the monster you knew. I saved you and that wasn't even enough for you!"

Now Claire was truly shocked. He had expected her to think he had changed after all that he had done to her?! He really expected her to forgive him?

"You let Elle shoot me!" she fired back.

"That bullet wasn't meant for you," he spat before glaring at Noah.

"What are you?" she quietly asked, dumbfounded that he could even be partially human with all he was doing and was capable of. Poor choice of words though she hardly thought that would be the case.

"I'm your every nightmare, Claire," he sighed against her while pressing her backside into him. "I'm everything you feared I would be."

"Then kill me and get it over with," she growled. She refused to struggle this time. She was sick of fearing him, tired of running and being his favorite victim. If it had to end like this then she was ready. Anything to save her family and be rid of this hell.

"Sorry, Claire. In death isn't the way I want you."

"You son of a bitch," Noah growled as he struggled harder in his own invisible restraints.

Angela could only watch as the scene played out before her. What more could she say? And if she tried she couldn't be sure she would live to say another thing. She couldn't even call for her medical response team for Meredith whom still had yet to awake from her fall. At least she could tell the woman was still breathing.

"Apparently I'm not," Sylar replied to Noah. "Or maybe I am, I guess we'll never know. But I will be taking what's mine now. You nearly took my life from me, more times than I can remember. You'll remember this though. The day I'll take yours from you."

Only Sylar didn't raise the gun again. Just the opposite. He stuffed the barrel into the back waistband of his pants and curled an arm around Claire's waist.

He knew the hold he'd had on the others would wear off soon. But by then he and Claire would be too far from the facility for them to follow or even know where they had gone.

That was what he was counting on. He needed to get her alone. He needed her to hear him out. The only way she would even pretend to be willing would be if he had her locked in some room with him.

"Why here?" she asked as he teleported them to and locked her in the living room of Steven Kanfield's former home.

"Because this is where it started. And where it almost ended."

She couldn't figure out what he meant. The first time they had seen each other was at the high school. Then he had attacked her at her home. What did this have to do with anything aside from where she had been shot?

And where he had first saved her.

With that realization her eyes shot open in shock. If this was where he had saved her then what was to stop him from killing her here? "Where it almost ended," he had said. Was he going to end it here now? Revenge was what he was after. Revenge for Elle? Against her father? Using her to get back at everyone else they had left back at the facility?

"What do you mean?" she asked, finally finding her voice.

"I knew from the start trying to redeem myself wouldn't be easy. But no matter what I did you never believed it. And this? Now? It's the only way I know you'll hear what I have to say."

"Why me? You said you did all of this, trying to prove yourself, for me. Why?"

"You're the one I owed it to the most," he admitted. "I was never sorry for what I did to the others, maybe because they were dead after what I'd done to them, I don't know. But you, I'm sorry for what I did to you. I've done what I can to prove it and you've thrown it back in my face. All I can do now is say it and if you still don't believe me then I don't know what else there is."

"Why is it so important that I forgive you?"

"Because I never meant to hurt you. And when I felt your pain, here, that day I'd never hated what I was more."

"And when Elle shot me?"

"She didn't mean to shoot you. But she also didn't have the remorse I do. I'm not saying I agree with what your father did, but if I had to choose between you I'm glad it was her and not you."

He was telling her the truth and she was beginning to see it. Though that last statement was the last thing she had expected him to say.

It reminded her of that night. Back at the carousel. She remembered the fear she had when her father threatened to use Steven to kill Sylar. She could have been rid of him, she could have watched as the man she had most feared and despised vanish into nothingness. But she had realized then that she didn't want that.

Taken back to Level 5, maybe, but she didn't want him dead. It was then she realized that her fear of him had outweighed her hatred. She didn't hate him and after this she knew she was right not to. Still he hadn't given her a reason to not fear him. At least not aside from the truth she was seeing as her eyes found his once more.

She couldn't know just what she felt for him in that moment. It wasn't love, she knew that. Pity, maybe. Certainly some compassion and understanding. But most of all she knew what was bringing about her current fear. Though to her surprise it wasn't him or even thing things he had done or was capable of. Instead she was beginning to realize that she honestly feared being without him.

"What is it?" he asked when he caught her staring at him, her eyes seemingly burning through him as she tried to understand all that running through her mind.

"Just hearing everything you said -"

"You don't believe me," he scoffed with a shake of his head. He knew she wouldn't, yet he couldn't shake this anger he had towards himself. So many wasted efforts, so much he would never be able to change.

"I do," she replied before she could even think the words.

It was a testament of just how stunned he was by her confession that when she tried to stand she was able to. He had lost his concentration and his hold of her just long enough for her to manage to make her way over to him.

"I don't know why I do, only that I don't think you would've gone through all of this if you weren't serious."

"I guess now that you can you'll go running back to Daddy, telling him how you defeated your monster." He had let her see him like this, shaken, vulnerable, weak. He was a disgrace and he knew it.

"No," she breathed, the reality of this beginning to dawn on her. Yes, she could leave and scream to Noah and Angela what had happened. Sylar would be back on Level 5 in no time, assuming they let him live. She knew she wouldn't go back though. At least not willingly. Not after this.

Yes, she had seen this side of him, but his weakness was endearing to her. For once she felt she was seeing the real him, not the killer who had terrorized her but the man who had been fighting to be just the opposite.

"Why not? It's not like you wanted to come here with me?"

"I thought you brought me here to kill me, not to -"

"Apologize?"

She nodded. "But then I guess we're both full of surprises today."

He remained quiet, but cocked a curious eyebrow, waiting for her to continue.

"When I was trying to stop my dad from using Steven to kill you, I knew why I was doing it. I didn't want to admit it to myself, but I knew."

"Knew what?" he asked when she was still silent after a long moment.

"The idea of being without you scares me more than you ever did. And somehow knowing that you could've been gone forever actually hurt me. And it only made it worse when I thought I couldn't feel any kind of pain then, but when I thought of that it was all I could feel."

She actually felt something for him. That alone made him hold his breath for a moment. He hadn't even noticed until he went to speak again.

"And the idea of being with me?" he finally asked cautiously.

"Scares me," she admitted.

"So you're afraid to be with me and afraid to be without me?" he almost laughed.

"I'm afraid to be without you and afraid of what could happen if I'm with you," she clarified.

He nodded. He knew what she meant. "And if I could protect you?" Granted he hadn't done the greatest job protecting Elle but then that had hardly been his job. She had always wanted to be a "Company Girl" and paid the price. Claire was different. That was what intrigued him.

"You can't promise that. My own father couldn't protect me."

"He doesn't have the powers I do," he nearly snapped.

"What if you lose them or something happened to take them away again, what then?"

"You don't know the things I would do for you. To keep you safe. You'd never have to worry again."

Why he said all of that, he didn't know. Maybe it was desperation, hard to tell when all he wanted was to feel her against him once more. Preferably with her being willing this time.

"Even if it meant not killing unless you had to?" Killing was in his nature, she knew this. The true test for him wouldn't be if he would kill for her, but if he would let some people live because of her.

"I only killed one person while I was working with your father." That was his form of a yes and he knew that she would know it.

With that Claire further closed the gap between them. He still wasn't holding her back, she had heard him out so he felt he had no more reason to. If she headed for the door he wouldn't stop her. Internally it would threaten to kill him, but he still wouldn't stop her.

Only leaving was the last thing Claire had in mind. She had heard what he had to say and she had known that he was telling the truth. Now she felt she owed him proof of what she had already said in return.

Sylar's eyes closed as he felt her lips brush against his. It could only be a cruel joke, he first thought. A trick of his forlorn mind or one of her own tricks. She would lure him into a kiss and stab him or shoot him. That was all he could think. Why in hell would she kiss him now?

Though as her lips gently parted to bring his between her own and he felt her arms slip around his middle and her body press into him, his disturbing thoughts seemed to fall away. This wasn't the kiss of someone who had lied to him, or someone who feared him or someone who would betray him.

Instead he could feel her own want and increasing need. There was still some pity in there too, he could tell, but he didn't have it in him to care just then. She was actually willingly kissing him. What else could he do but return the tender gesture and wrap her in his arms in reply?

Of course explaining this to Noah and Angela would be interesting to say the least, but once again that was something for another time. Right then all that mattered to them was that moment.

The End


End file.
